There are many needs for communicating with an occupant of a vehicle, car, bus, truck, etc. Examples of such are to initiate a transaction at a drive through, answering questions at a roadblock or checkpoint, during a traffic stop, etc. Currently, to perform such communications requires that an occupant of the vehicle open a window or door and communicate through that open window or door.
An example of such communication occurs when one places an order at an order taking position of a fast food restaurant. In such, the occupant must roll down their window (or open their door) and verbally communicate with a speaker and microphone located at the order taking position. By opening the window, the occupant is exposed, not only to the weather, but to a potential of theft, bodily injury or carjacking. Meanwhile, the person taking the order is safe, dry and warm inside the fast food restaurant. To further compound the difficulty in communication, often the speaker is of inadequate quality to clearly hear the order taker and the background noise coupled with microphone quality and position makes it difficult for the order taker to hear and understand the occupant of the vehicle.
In certain climates, weather makes it uncomfortable and inconvenient for the occupant to open their window. In some location, cold weather includes temperatures well below zero, wind, rain, hail, snow, blowing snow, blowing sand and dust, etc. It is often uncomfortable to open a window in such climates, especially when young children are also situated in the vehicle. Many potential customers of establishments with drive-thru facilities are dissuaded from frequenting such establishments during bad weather.
In certain neighborhoods, it is dangerous to open a vehicle window for fear that a criminal will reach in the vehicle, cause bodily injury, grab something of value, coerce the occupant into getting out, etc. Many potential customers of establishments with drive-thru facilities are dissuaded from frequenting such establishments due to fear of lost valuables and/or bodily harm.
In certain law-enforcement situations it becomes necessary for a law officer, border guard, sentry, etc, to communicate with a vehicle occupant. For example, when a law officer makes a traffic stop, the officer must communicate with the driver to inform them of what they did wrong (speeding), get their name, license number, insurance company, etc. Similarly, at a checkpoint such as at a roadblock, border, etc, it is sometimes needed to ask questions of the vehicle occupants. The same or similar environmental and safety issues are present in these situations. In addition, there is a risk of bodily harm to the law enforcement officer. For example, when a law officer makes a traffic stop, it might be raining, snowing, etc. Often, the officer must get out of their vehicle to retrieve the driver's information, return to their vehicle to access their computer system and issue the summons, then exit their vehicle to present the summons to the driver. This exposes the officer to the elements and increases the risk of the officer being hit by a passing vehicle, especially in bad weather such as fog or when roads are slippery. Furthermore, the initial confrontation with the driver is a dangerous situation for the officer. If the individual is wanted for something serious, has a gun, or is otherwise dangerous, the initial confrontation often becomes a life threatening situation for the officer.
There are existing ways to perform such communications, none of which are practical. For example, a cellular phone can be used to establish a voice call with the occupant. This is not practical for several reasons: not everybody has a cell phone, cell phone calls often result in costs to the owner of the cell phone, and there is no established protocol for conveying an occupant/driver's phone number to a law enforcement officer.
Another way to perform such communications is with a short-range wireless communication device such as a walkie-talkie. This solution would work if everybody had such a device and there were sufficient channels and security.
There are known one-way methods of communicating on-way to an occupant of vehicle. For years, it has been known to locally transmit audio to occupants of vehicles through the ubiquitous AM/FM radio present in almost every vehicle. This has been done to warn drivers of weather and traffic issues, to guide drivers into theme parks, to describe attractions as the occupants drive through (e.g., animal parks), etc. This has long been used as an inward way to communicate in one direction, but this mechanism has no provision for the vehicle occupant(s) to communicate outwardly.
Many newer vehicles are equipped with an audio system that has local data communications such as Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) or Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15), for example for communicating with a cellular device located within the vehicle to provide hands-free capabilities for phone calls through the cellular device. Such capabilities currently work within the vehicle, but do not communicate with devices outside of the vehicle, for example, with a law enforcement vehicle.
What is needed is a system that will enable two-way communication without requiring opening and/or approaching the vehicle.